Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-11-27
WHEN THEY WERE BOYS.
President CleVslaBd's Early Struggles
With P0veriy-PossmRster-Genersl
Villas members
When His Father was q PoEtnnsster-Gsn
Srsphenson's Chiidhood-Lessons from
she Lives Of Prominent Men.

hood of men who make their way TO the
front attract comparatively little atten-
ton. Yet Is it not well worth study,
considering the conceded fact that boys
are worth more than beans in almost any
market.
Take President Cleveland, for instance
4 good deal has been written about him,
but concerning the de.GiiS Of mis- boy
hood not much is known.
His grandfather was an Irishman born,
from county Clare, AID MS mother, Annie
Neal, barely escaped it by being born in
Baltimore just after her parents arrived
on shore.
On the psternal side congenitsl infu-
ences were very strong, and eight If
President Clevelsnd's family, grandfather
and uncles, have place OF
distinction in AppIeton's "Cgclope-
dla of BiogrsphY." His grest-grand-
father died while a guest of B5Dis-
min Franklin in Philadelphia, in 1857, AID
The great philosopher spoke Of HIM IS
"humsne in his life, easy and afable III
his conversation, open and sincere in his
friendship, and above every species Of
meanness and Discrimination" The Pres
ideut's grandfather introduced bill into
the Legislature OF Connecticut for the
abolition OF slavery.
Hsving been asked to what be attr,bu
ed his careful and precise business habits
the President replied: "T0 the fact that
I was often in need of money when wa
boy. l Learned from frequent want Of 1t
the exact value Of York shilling, and
learned that shillings could not be hon
estly earned except by strict economy anu
great attention TO the detail business"
When be YVES rising at 9 O'Clock in the
morning and walking seven miles and
back to earn York shilling on the Z tie
Canal, or, later, when he served as Cnore
BOY in {. country grocery Gt $50 . year, or,
later yet, when g man grown, he tramped
through UGics and Syracuse wiJho Ut 8
dollar in his pocket, and could not and
any body to hire him TO do job OF work
Of any sort st any wages, or, still later,
when he ransacked Buffalo in vain for
days for the chance to serve somebody as
flee boy, he vas reduced to just those
exLremities which make anarchists Of the
coward and cr&rks who invuigh against
law and destiny.
Nj. CleveIend's neat, symmetrical and
rather dainty handwriting was acquired
while he was keeping books tor the Blind
Asylum in New YORK jast as he was SIX
| teen.
Grover is understood to have been 6
little backward in the "deestrlcS school"
OF Fayetteville, n. Y, Always preferripg
fishing TO fraC ions. When he was Gov
ernOr an CID man appeared at the capitol,
AID introducing himself es the Cover
| nor's old schoOlmaster, said: 81 remem
! Der gave sou the BIRCH three times ter
going fishing in ChenaDgo cresk, and
nave called TO apologize"
Don't you 90 iJ!" said the Governor;
s'oon'G rou DO il. am very much in
drb1ed to the licbie gs L have received"
called yesterday on Postmaster Ger
eral Villas and asked him if &c would tell
me about his youth ana education.
"WhY, certainly" he said, SHUT you
can put il inIo about four lines. My
youth was happily uneventfuI. While Fay
father was not rich he was not very poor,
and never had 10 fight for a living. like
some boys. l was stranger alike TO the
lap Of luxury and the lzp OF penury."
| you're Yankee, L believer"
''Yes, by birth. My father, now some
years dead, moved from Chelsea, VT,
when l was ten and took his family to
the beautiful knoll where stands Madison,
Wis, but before that curiOusly enough,
he was postmaster in the little town Of
| Morrisville. and | remember how few the
duties Of the Gfflce were. His total salary
| for the last three months was 81 Al, s
| little less than two cents day"
| I'm Madison l suppose you went to
school, General?"
"Not st once. The first thing I did
was TO go into printing office as devil.
| My father believed in making boys work
and In that office | swept out, washed
rollers, made fires and did chores, Gn6
there l learned to set type. l remember
the first sticktul set up WAS shout the
wonders Of the telegraph, IS expressed 81
an old lazy who got an answer with fresh
| ink on it from long distance, and de-
clared that ut do 60 like pizen.' After
thsG went to school couple of years
and entered the University of Wisconsin
when | was thirteen. In the Sophomore
summer l became seriously i'll of fever
sld WAS taken out for year, which
pr0ftably spent in bank. In that bank
l learned business methods and consid-
cradle about bknklng-a good deal thai
has always been useful TO NE. Well, That's
about ALT is too much anyway. No
body wants to read such TRIES"
perhaps they DO, though" 1 said,
and ASKED for more about his training.
~ went back to the university sgain,''
said General Villas, dropped into the
Class where l left it, and managed to get
through ell right"
"At the head of the class an old biog
raphy of you says"
"Yes, was. But you knowThe PROV
ero about valedictorisns? So better moi
say anything about that. Then l went tC
! Commercial college and took course OF
! business and bookkeeping ana afterwards
l studied law, was admitted to the bar,
and made my drst argument before the
Supreme court just before l was twenty
| My folks thought it great feat, but
know now the Judge and the lawyers who
| heard me probably didn't. I was aston
ished when told that the case mad gone
| against me-"
| - Your father was lawyer, believe,
| General"
IYes. And he, to a great extent, d.
rEeted my reading. And other things
700. He was not inclined to give lie
I pocket money TO spend for the things
tancied, but he would say to me: Now
whenever you want anything, come to NE
and tell me what it is, and we will talk il
over, and il it is proper and needed
you shall have it, TDis in
| commoGed me in various ways when
was in college, and one day carried arc
laid CO his desk Bacon's essay on The
I